Google Updates Panda and PageRank with Panda 3.6

Google is at it again with new PageRank and Panda refreshes that are certain to cause headaches, or improve page rankings, depending on which side of the fence you’re sitting on. Details are still emerging on both updates, but here’s what we know so far.

PageRank Update

On Thursday May 4, Google rolled out a PageRank update that provided some unexpected good news for sites that weren’t really a positive leap. Over at Mybloggertips.com they point out that their sister site, Smart Earning Methods, jumped from no ranking to the number two spot in their niche. That’s a pretty impressive overnight leap.

That said, no one is really certain how extensive the update is or how many sites will be impacted. The SEO blogosphere erupted on Friday with news of the update and we can expect to hear plenty more about it this week as more sites realize that they’ve been targeted.

Google normally rolls out these updates about every 90 days or so, so this was not entirely unexpected.

Whether you want to call it a full blown Panda update or just a refresh, Google did something on the 27th of April that was Panda-related but didn’t announce it officially until last week. Unlike previous Panda updates, 3.6 didn’t turn the world upside down, so most SEO watchers are assuming that its impact will be fairly limited.

Of course a Panda refresh is only “limited” if it doesn’t effect your site. But that tends to be the nature of a Google refresh. If you’ve been taking actions to knock back previous Panda updates, you probably won’t notice much impact from this one.

Finally

We’ll know a lot more about these updates as the week progresses but one thing is for certain; change. Google has made it clear that they’re very serious about cleaning up the web and this onslaught of updates proves their point.

Are you feeling any impact from these latest updates? Let us know on our SEO Forum.